Besides being married to the new police commissioner named by mayor elect of New York City Bill DeBlasio, Rikki Klieman is a celebrity in her own right.

Born in Chicago in 1948, she is a criminal defense lawyer and TV personality for TruTV. She worked in criminal defense in Boston and taught at Columbia Law School. She met Bill Bratton in New York and they were married in April of 1999. It was her first marriage and his fourth.

Rikki is on of the most successful and well known criminal lawyers in America. She’s been an anchor on Court TV as well. In 1983, she was named one of the five most outstanding women trial lawyers in the country by Time Magazine. She’s been interviewed by many talk shows and news channels, as well as on 60 Minutes and others.

This very busy woman has also served on the Advisory Committee to the U. S. Supreme Court on Federal Rules of Criminal Procedures, the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and many others. She is also an author and an actress! Wow, I got tired just writing all this stuff down!!

How does this high power couple make their marriage work? They respect each others’ identity and uniqueness, they keep communication lines open, they’ve both learned how to balance work and personal life. But most importantly it’s showing the love and respect they have for each other and being the emotional support and encouragement. They have learned to grow as individuals and as a team, a real couple and as best friends.

The question most asked today in Queens is where the heck IS Karla Giraldo?

The Ecuador born woman has not been seen by lawyers representing her in her $35 million lawsuit against NYC, NYPD detectives and the staff of Long Island Jewish Hospital since this past summer. She is alleging that the domestic violence case against Monserrate was fabricated because he was a public official.

The city would love to have the lawsuit vacated for abandonment if she’s not found by the next court date which is December 9 in Brooklyn Federal Court. Her lawyers say that they haven’t found her but that she travels a lot between the U. S. and her native Ecuador.

The Queens beauty who was slashed in the face with a broken glass by her then-boyfriend, disgraced state Sen. Hiram Monserrate, has disappeared. Monserrate was arrested on December 19, 2008 and accused of slashing Karla Giraldo in the face with a broken drinking glass during an argument in his Jackson Heights apartment. He pleaded not guilty. Karla had initially made statements to police and hospital staff which led to his arrest, but later changed her story, saying it was an accident.

On February 27, 2009, the order of protection which prevents Monserrate from having contact with Giraldo was extended over the objections of Monserrate’s attorney. In an appearance before the sentencing judge, William Erlbaum, on July 7, 2010, Monserrate again petitioned to have a court order prohibiting him from contact with Giraldo vacated. The petition was granted, and according to the New York Post, Monserrate and Giraldo kissed and held hands, and it was even rumored that they would be getting married.

In recent years she has maintained that Monserrate only slipped and fell with glass in his hand and had only been pulling on her because she did not want to go to the hospital. She described Monserrate in her letter as a good father to his autistic son, Gabriel, and a helper to his mother, Hilda, who is battling cancer.

Back to the lawsuit: Despite numerous attempts to find her, the lawyers say in court documents that they only hope to hear from Giraldo’s close family members “in the near future.” Giraldo’s cousin did not return messages left for her in Queens and Miami.

Why has she disappeared? You would think that with so much on the line Karla would at least give her lawyers a heads up. Will she appear in Brooklyn on the ninth? We’ll soon know.

Jen Romney is the wife of Josh Romney, son of past presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Although she’s not the world’s greatest cook, she’s mother to Josh’s five children, Gracie, 10, Wyatt, 8, Owen 6, Sawyer 2 and baby boy born in July of this year.

In spite of all the negative feedback her husband is getting, Jen must be very proud of him.

Romney, one of former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s sons and a resident of Utah, was driving nearby with his family, after Thanksgiving dinner at dad’s house, when the accident happened. They stopped at the intersection after exiting I-215 at 4500 South.

“Just then a vehicle traveling at highway speed passed narrowly by my car, through the intersection and into the kitchen of a home across the street,” Josh Romney said in a statement.

After witnessing the accident, Romney drove to the house, opened the driver’s door and spoke with the four passengers in the car.

“Miraculously, they appeared to have no major injuries,” Romney said. “I was able to help each of them get out of the car and lift them down to the ground. What I did to help the people involved in the accident is what anyone else would do who witnessed such a potentially dangerous situation,” Romney said.

He then proceeded to tweet all about the incident with pictures included. It seems that all lot people disapprove of the picture and “lack of humility”. He did what most of us would have done , at least I hope so, and then in the heat of the moment, maybe, let others know about it. Is this so bad?

Maureen Patricia Gardner McDonnell is the wife of soon to be ex governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell. She and her husband,married for 37 years, have five children together. Jeanine, who served as a U.S. Army Signal Corps officer in Iraq. Cailin who coordinated the youth outreach for the Republican Party of Virginia, Rachel, and twin sons Bobby and Sean who are both athletes in the class of 2014 at the University of Virginia.

A native of Fairfax County, Mrs. McDonnell began her career working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. She later worked for both the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the Department of Defense. During the 1970’s, Mrs. McDonnell was a member of the Redskinettes, now known as the Washington Redskin’s Cheerleaders.

Now, her husband is leaving the office of governor of Virginia in the middle of accusations and investigations of wrong doing by himself and family members.

McDonnell’s departure comes as federal prosecutors investigate whether he and wife Maureen gave special treatment to Star Scientific Inc., a dietary supplement-maker whose chief executive helped cover catering costs for their daughter’s wedding and gave the first couple other gifts, including a Rolex watch for the governor.

McDonnell apologized in July and said he had returned more than $120,000 in loans, as well as other gifts. He repeated in the interview that he had done nothing illegal on Star Scientific’s behalf, but said he’d do “things differently today than choices I made a couple of years ago.”

Maureen has come under fire as well for being paid $36,000 in 2012 to advise the charitable arm of a Virginia coal company.

Political pundits are now waiting to see the results of the federal investigation. Political science professor Dan Palazolo has said that McDonnell’s political future may hinge on what happens.

Karen Avrich and Mark Halperin have been in a relationship for a number of years now. They both seem to be ideally suited to each other. They are intelligent, well educated and both of them are writers. Of course, Mark Halperin is also the senior political analyst for Time Magazine.

Karen is the daughter of Paul Avrich the late historian of anarchism and taught at Queens College. In fact, when her father passed away in 2006, she took on the job of completing the biographies he was writing about Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. It’s title is “Sasha and Emma”. She is also a researcher and editor.

Mark Halperin attended Walt Whitman High School and then Harvard. He has written many books and has been on the N.Y. Times best seller list often. His books about the past two elections have been very well received.

They share an apartment in New York City. Mark says that she was instrumental to “The Way to Win”.

Despite being known to support Mr Obama, in the 2008 election, he was an outspoken critic of what he perceived as biased reporting. He said: ‘It’s the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war. It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage.’

In 2011, he was suspended indefinitely for insulting Obama on live television. On Monday he appeared on Newsmax TV’s Steve Malzberg Show agreeing that death panels were built into the plan (obamacare).That it was a part of how costs would be controlled, he stated. A little later he went and called it a good thing, maybe.

His credibility is being questioned, and other reporters and political writers are asking where this came from. If it’s true, or not, we want to know.

Judith Pond Kudlow is a realist painter working mainly with the still life. She was born in Whitefish Montana.

Judith attended the college of William and Mary. She also studied at the Art Students League of New York, the National Academy of Art and the School of Visual Arts.

She currently keeps a studio in East Harlem where she also has started her own atelier which is named the Harlem Studio of Art. She has appeared in several art magazines.

Judith has recently made a DVD about the sight size method. The video below is a short excerpt from it.

In 1986, she married economist, television personality and newspaper columnist Larry Kudlow. In 1990, Larry entered a “twelve step program” to deal with his addiction to drugs and alcohol. While on the program he converted to Catholicism under the guidance of Father John McCloskey.

As a speaker at the Silver Hill Hospital Gala on Wednesday, he spoke about his decades long struggle as a recovering addict. To this day he still attends AA meetings at Silver Hill. He also credits his “wonderful wife” and her support for being sober for over 17 years.

Ellen Rometsch was born in Kleinitz, Germany, in 1936. At the end of the Second World War Kleinitz became part of East Germany. Romesch joined the Communist Party Youth Group.

In 1955 Rometsch fled to West Germany. Her first marriage ended in divorce. Her second marriage was to Rolf Rometsch, a sergeant in the West German air force. On 6th April 1961 she arrived in the United States with her husband who had been assigned to his country’s military mission in Washington.

According to John Simkin, while living in Washington she became a regular visitor to the Quorum Club. This was a private club in the Carroll Arms Hotel on Capitol Hill that had been established by Bobby Baker. As Baker pointed out in Wheeling and Dealing its “membership was comprised of senators, congressmen, lobbyists, Capitol Hill staffers, and other well-connected who wanted to enjoy their drinks, meals, poker games, and shared secrets in private accommodations”.

Bobby Baker, who served prison time for tax evasion, says Ellen Rometsch pleased JFK so much that he thanked him for hooking them up. But she was deported when then Attorney General Bobby Kennedy found out about her and wanted to avoid a scandal, Baker says.

Where is Ellen today? We don’t know if she’s is even alive. If she is, she would be 77 years old. What an interesting and scandalous interview she could give!

Margo Sheridan married Michael Skakel in 1991. She and her husband lived in Hobe Sound Fla. A wealthy neighborhood. She was a golfer.

In 1999, they had a son, George. But on January 19,2000, her husband was formally accused of the murder of Martha Moxley in 1975, when he was fifteen. He was released on bail of $500,000 in February of 2000.

That same year, Margo filed for divorce. By 2001, the divorce was final. Meanwhile, Michael had been on trial. In 2002, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years to life imprisonment.

Today, a Connecticut judge set bail at $1.2 million for Skakel, whose murder conviction in the death of Martha Moxley was vacated last month after a judge decided he did not receive adequate representation in his 2002 trial.

Stamford Superior Court Judge Gary White set several conditions for the bail, including barring Skakel from leaving Connecticut without court approval, ordering him to wear a GPS tracking device, to refrain from contacting the victim’s family, and requiring that he report to a bail commissioner.

The world has been drawn to this story mainly because of the Kennedy connection. Ethel Kennedy, Robert Kennedy’s widow, is the sister of Michael’s father.

Lynne Ann Vincent Cheney is a very accomplished lady. She is a novelist, a scholar and even a former talk show host. She was also Second Lady of the Nation for eight years.

She was born in Casper Wyoming on August 14, 1941. She was raised a Presbyterian and became a Methodist when she married Dick Cheney. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature with highest honors from Colorado College. From there she went to the University of Colorado in Boulder, where she got her masters and from the her PhD in British Literature.

Lynne has been married to Dick Cheney since 1964. They have two daughters Elizabeth born on July 28, 1966. Liz is married to Philip Perry and has five children. She is an international lawyer. Mary Cheney was born on March 14, 1969. She is openly gay and lives with her partner Heather Roan Poe. Lynne has stated her opposition to an amendment banning gay marriage and like her husband supports gay marriage.

Now it seems she might have to take sides as her two daughters are in the middle of a very public dispute. Liz does not approve of gay marriages although she loves and supports her sister. People who have spoken to Liz Cheney say she is irritated that her sister is making their dispute public and believes it is hypocritical for Mary Cheney to take such a hard line now, given that she worked for the re-election of President Bush, an opponent of same-sex marriage.

So, what’s a mother to do? Siblings will always find something to argue about, although this really is a sensitive subject.

We are sorry to report Former Florida Secretary Katherine Harris’ husband Anders Sven Axel Ebbeson took his own life this morning at around 7:00 a.m. He was found dead at the couple’s home on Bay Point Drive in Sarasota,

Katherine and Anders met on a blind date at the opera. They married in 1996. Anders had one daughter, Louise. He became a naturalized U. S. citizen in 2000. He was a Swedish businessman born in Hamstead, Sweden. He founded the appliance company InterCon Marketing Inc. in 1992 and received a reported annual revenue of between $5 million and $25 million.

Officers were called to the home at around 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday. Police spokesperson Genevieve Judge said that Ebbeson had committed suicide.

The Pastor of Sarasota First Baptist Church, William Hild stated during a news conference at the police station, that Ebbeson had taken his own life. He said that Anders had been sufferIng health issues in recent years. Hild spoke on behalf of the family saying, “They are asking for privacy, prayers, thoughts and love from the community. Anders has been suffering health conditions that he’d been attempting to deal with, which had been increasingly part of his life,” Hild said. “He was much beloved by his family. He was very warm and a generous person.”

Police Chief Bernadette DiPino added that the community respect the request for privacy at this difficult time. She said that Katherine wanted the community to know that her husband was no longer suffering.